How many S'mores can Maddie and her friends make over the campfire?

Based on the data provided, how many S'mores can Maddie and her friends make and what is the limiting reactant?

a. They can make 15 S'mores and the chocolate is the limiting reactant.
b. They can make 16 S'mores and the grahams are the limiting reactant.
c. They can make 24 S'mores and the marshmallows are the limiting reactant.
d. They can make 25 S'mores and the chocolate is the limiting reactant.

Final answer:

After evaluating each ingredient, it's concluded that the graham crackers are the limiting reactant which allows only for 16 S'mores to be made.

Let's break down the data to understand how many S'mores can be made and why the limiting reactant is the graham crackers.

Each S'more requires 2 graham crackers, 3 squares of milk chocolate, and 2 marshmallows. Maddie and her friends have 48 marshmallows, which is enough for 24 S'mores. They also have 2 packs of graham crackers, with 16 grahams per pack, totaling 32 graham crackers. This quantity only allows for 16 S'mores to be made. Lastly, they have 5 chocolate bars that can be broken into 15 pieces each, giving a total of 75 chocolate pieces, enough for 25 S'mores.

However, the group can only make as many S'mores as the least plentiful ingredient (limiting reactant) allows. In this case, the graham crackers are the limiting reactant, limiting the number of S'mores to 16. Therefore, the correct answer is 'b. They can make 16 S'mores and the grahams are the limiting reactant.'

This scenario illustrates the concept of limiting reactant commonly used in chemistry to determine the maximum product that can be produced from the given reactants.